Thursday, February 14, 2013

Self-management and Work as Alternatives to the Global Economic Crisis

July 9-12, 2013

Joao Pessoa, Brazil

In
an international context where the global capitalist crisis is
increasingly affecting European countries, especially along the
Mediterranean, the only response from governments has been to implement
the usual
austerity measures. These austerity measures,tried and tested in other
parts of the world, have, yet again, not only failed to regenerate
economies, but have led to further impoverishment, structural
unemployment, marginalization and insecurity for the majority
of who must work to earn a living. In response, large protest movements
have begun to emerge in the “developed” countries that are feeling the
effects of the crisis the most, reinforcing the need for changes in the
management of the economy that not only contemplate
the welfare of workers, but also assure that its management rest in
their hands..

In
the so-called “developing” countries, particularly in Latin America,
social movements, people’s organizations and labor movements have been
developing self-managed organizations at a grassroots level. Such is
the case of the worker-recuperated enterprises in various South
American countries, and other forms of workers’ control, both urban and
rural. In some instances, these movements have gained some recognition
and support at a governmental level, bringing into
question the role of the state and the relationship between state power
and the autonomy of popular movements: on the one hand the state can be
a potential facilitator of the processes of workers’ control, but on
the other hand it can be seen as an antagonistic
instrument of traditional power with the potential to limit the
autonomy of self-managed organizations.

The
Fourth International Gathering of “The Workers’ Economy” seeks to
explore these and other questions relating workers’ struggles from
different perspectives and national contexts. It seeks to provide space
for
discussion and debate using the experiences of workers’ control and
self-management as a point of departure, bringing together academics,
social activists, and workers. Together with worker-recuperated
enterprises, cooperatives, labor movements and organizations,
social movements, political groups, and academics, among others, we
have been co-developing the International Gathering and its themes

with
representatives from over 20 countries that have participated in our
previous three gatherings. We reiterate here what we emphasized in
previous
encuentros: while in uneven
ways perhaps, workers are undoubtedly inventing alternatives that are
not only limited to the economic, but that extend out into wider
cultural processes as well. Based on non-capitalist relations of
production, these processes
have increasingly been opening up spaces for prefigurative politics.
Moreover, these alternative economic institutions are affording workers
room for discussing issues such as internal power and gender structures,
as well as the relationship between workers,
workplaces, and their surrounding communities. These processes, visible
for example in the recuperated factories, workers’ cooperatives, and
micro-enterprises of the world, although still incipient, show that
workers can indeed self-manage a more humane and
sustainable alternative than what is offered by corporate
globalization.

The
Fourth International Gathering will be held in the town of João Pessoa
in the state of Paraíba in northeastern Brazil, and hosted by the
Incubator for Social Enterprises
(INCUBES), at the Universidade Federal da Paraiba, and the Programa
Facultad Abierta (Open Faculty Program) of the University of Buenos
Aires.

History of the International Gathering of “The Workers’ Economy”

The International Gathering of “The Workers’ Economy,” had is its first
encuentro in Buenos Aires in July 2007 under the theme
“Self-management and Distribution of wealth.” It was organized by the
Open Faculty Program of the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters,
University of Buenos Aires, in conjunction with academic institutions,
social organizations, and workers in Argentina and around the world.
The International Gatherings, have emerged into a forum for the exchange
of ideas and experiences between academics, activists, and workers.
These ideas center on the possibilities and challenges
of self-management; the regeneration of a political, economic, and
social project by the working class and social movements; as well as
critical discussion and analyses of the practices of academic research
focusing on self-management and the workers’ economy..

The Argentine experience of workers’ control and self-management provided a solid basis for discussion for the first
encuentro in 2007. These discussions took on an international nature by the second and third
encuentros (held in Buenos Aires in 2009, and in Mexico City in
2011) which explored, and learned from, the different experiences of the
working class and social movements around the world. As an ultimate
objective, they contemplated on an alternative
economic, social and political project from that which neoliberal
global capitalism presents. In this sense the themes and discussion
topics of the International Gatherings became more diverse with each new
encuentro, expanding to different areas of social struggle and
critical thinking, yet still remaining true to the spirit suggested by
the title of the International Gatherings: how to think about, debate
and construct an economy emerging from workers
themselves and encompassing workers’ self-management.

Thematic areas:

Proposals for panels and paper presentations may include, but are certainly not limited to, the following thematic areas:

1. Analysis of capitalist management of the economy and proposals for self-management

2. The new crisis of global capitalism: Analysis from the perspective of the workers’ economy

3. The historical trajectory of self-management: From traditional communities to labor movements

4.
Actual practices of self-management today: Possibilities and challenges.
(Including, but not limited to: worker-recuperated enterprises,
cooperatives, and attempts at self-management by indigenous communities,
peasants and social movements)

8. Informal, precarious, and degrading employment: Social exclusion or reconfiguration of labor in global capitalism?

9. New movements in response to the global economic crisis: Perspectives from the struggle for self-management

10. Challenges facing popular governments in the social management of the economy and the state

11. The university, workers, and social movements: Debates over methodologies and practices of mutual construction

Organizational structure for the IV International Meeting “The Economy of the Workers”

The IV International Meeting will take place 9th-12th
July, 2013 with morning and afternoon sessions, and will be open to the
public.
There will be plenary sessions and workshops with the presentation of
papers, videoconferencing, and a final plenary session with discussion
and conclusions

Organizing Committee:

Incubator
for Social Enterprises (INCUBES) Fedeal University of Paraíba, João
Pessoa, Brazil; Department of Social Relations of the Autonomous
Metropolitan University-Xochimilco, Mexico; Programa Facultad Abierta
(Open Faculty Program), Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, University
of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Abstract submission deadline for papers: 22 April 2013

Notification of approved presentations: 2 May 2013

Final papers submission deadline: 30 June 2013

Please send abstracts for presentations to the following emails:

English:

marcelo.vieta@euricse.eu
- Marcelo Vieta (Research Fellow, European Research Institute on
Cooperative and Social Enterprises (EURICSE), Trento, Italy, and York
University,
Toronto, Canada)

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Mayor to take salary in Bristol pounds

On his first day in office the new independent mayor of Bristol
rebranded the Council House, scrapped a parking measure brought in only
a few weeks ago and announced he would take his salary in the city's
local currency.George Ferguson, who beat 14 candidates to become mayor,
also revealed on Monday that the hole in the city council's budget was
£32m – £4m greater than he had expected. Ferguson said he would work
with anybody who could come up with a clever way of finding the savings
needed without harming services.
Ferguson's first decision of his
three-and-a-half year tenure was to scrap the name Council House and
replace it with City Hall. At his swearing-in ceremony at Temple Meads
station, he said the new name showed that the building and the work that
went on inside it belonged to the people of Bristol, not to the mayor
or the councillors.
Ferguson, wearing his trademark bright red
trousers, also revealed that he was scrapping charges for on-street
parking on Sundays. He said that from next year he would look at making
parts of the city traffic-free on the first Sunday of every month, as
happens in Bristol's twin city, Bordeaux.
To applause, Ferguson
said he wanted to move fast. He did not want to commission expensive
surveys or report on initiatives. "Let's just do it and see how it turns
out," he said.
Of his salary – currently £51,000, though the figure could change – Ferguson said he would take it in Bristol pounds, a currency introduced this year and proving a success.
Thanking
the voters for entrusting him with the "ultimate project", Ferguson
said Bristol had a minor link to London but a more important link to the
rest of the world. "We are a proud provincial city," he said. "We are
pretty self-contained and we are independent."
Ferguson will try
to form a rainbow cabinet with councillors from the political parties he
defeated in last week's elections. He said he had already had positive
talks with the leaders of all four parties on the city council.
He
accepted there would be tough times ahead and revealed that at his
first meeting on Monday he was told the hole in the budget was up to
£32m. "We've got to be really clever," he said. "I will work with
anybody who can find ways to deliver the services. I come with
absolutely no dogma about how we do it. What matters is that we do it."
Ferguson
completed his speech by asking everyone present to join him as he took
the oath made by young men of Athens when they became citizens: "I shall
not leave this city any less but rather greater than I found it."

Friday, February 8, 2013

Republic Windows and Doors workers celebrate their first victorious occupation in 2008

This week, Strike Debt tweeted out
triumphantly: “It’s a new era. First machine fired up at worker owned
factory. #NewEraWindowsandDoors”. For those of us who’ve been following
news about the Chicago factory formerly known as Republic Windows and
Doors, this was the culmination of years of struggle. It’s an exciting
moment, and a victory which hopefully can inspire other factories across
the country.

Though the factory had been making windows and doors since 1965, our
story starts in 2008 with the financial crisis and the actions of Bank
of America. Despite having received billions in tax dollars, Bank of
America (and other major banks) spent much of 2008 cutting off
struggling small businesses or businesses with low returns—not because
they couldn’t afford to lend to them, but to improve their balance
sheets. Republic Windows and Doors lost their credit line in late 2008
(just a few days after BOA received $25 billion in bailout money) and
summarily fired their 250 workers in three days, without either the 60
days notice or the 60 days severance required by the WARN act.

A common story, perhaps, but at Republic Windows and Doors the
workers didn’t acquiesce. Instead, in December of 2008, they occupied
the factory for six days, bringing major national news coverage,
and won their severance. It’s important to remember that in 2008,
occupation was seen more as a labor action from the 30s then a common
tactic for protest on the left.

In February 2009, the plant was purchased by Serious Energy, and
reopened, with many of the workers returning to their previous union
contracts. It seemed like a major victory, and things went well at the
factory for a time. But then, in February of 2012, sudden closure was
again announced, this time by the new bosses. Once again, workers
rallied to the factory, this time with a big wave of support from Occupy
Chicago, and though their occupation only lasted 11 hours, they won
fair severance pay once more.

But now, rather than wait for another boss to just repeat the cycle,
the workers are taking control of the factory. In May of 2012, they
incorporated as a democratically run worker-owned cooperative, and
they’ve begun purchasing the machinery in the factory bit by bit. They
have the support of their union, the United Electrical Workers, as well
as the micro-finance solidarity economy organization Working World.

Overview:The Restaurant Opportunities Center of Michigan (ROC-Michigan) seeks a dynamic and entrepreneurial individual with deep ties to the food justice and worker cooperative movements who can play a leadership role in founding a COLORS Co-Op Academy for emerging, worker-owned good food businesses in Detroit. The COLORS Co-Op Academy is an intensive learning experience designed to cultivate new worker-owned good food businesses rooted in principles of democracy, sustainability, and justice. The COLORS Co-Op Academy will serve as a model to inform the launch of similar COLORS cooperative incubators around the country. We envision a community-based economy in which all people are contributing with dignity, respect, and ownership. We work towards this vision by developing worker cooperatives grounded in the leadership, resources, and needs of communities most affected by social and economic injustice. By linking our actions with movements for worker, food, and racial justice, we collectively re-imagine and transform our workplaces, communities, and local economies.

Organizational Background:Founded in 2008 and based in Detroit, MI, the Restaurant Opportunities Center of Michigan (ROC-Michigan) is a non-profit, membership-based organization of over 1,000 restaurant workers. We are an affiliate of Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC-United), a national restaurant workers’ organization founded in New York City by restaurant workers displaced by the 9/11 World Trade Center tragedy. We are dedicated to improving working conditions and increasing opportunities for advancement in restaurants nationwide for the collective benefit of workers, employers, and consumers. We take a three-pronged approach to achieving change in the restaurant industry that includes: (1) campaigning for workplace justice; (2) conducting community-based research and policy work, and (3) promoting the ‘high-road’ to profitability through innovative employer partnerships, workforce development programs, and our family of COLORS Restaurant social enterprises. In ten years, ROC has become the nation’s leading restaurant worker organization. More information can be found at: www.rocunited.org and www.rocmichigan.org.

Job Responsibilities Include:
Leading the COLORS Co-Op Academyo Developing and ensuring continuous improvement of a COLORS Co-Op Academy curriculum developed in partnership with Cooperation Texas, an Austin-based cooperative incubator program;o Conducting outreach with community-based partners and allies to recruit Co-Op Academy participants;o Facilitating Co-Op Academy participant workshops in workplace democracy, food justice, and business development, as well as peer-to-peer learning sessions;o Coordinating support services for participants, including legal and marketing assistance, mentoringopportunities, post-graduation coaching, and micro-loans

Supporting overall organizational and program growtho Developing and maintaining relationships with key Co-Op Academy local and national partners including: ROC-United, Cooperation Texas, Community Food Empowerment Directive (CoFED), Fair Food Network, the Urban Communities Clinic, local community colleges, and Jackie Victor, co-founder of Avalon International Breads;o Planning and implementing program communications and marketing;

Attending cooperative conferences and building relationships with movement leaders;Participating in a formal evaluation to identify best practices for scaling the local model nationally;Innovating programs to leverage and/or create organizational synergies between the Co-Op Academyand our non-profit COLORS Restaurants

Intensively coaching and supporting the development of worker-owned, good food enterprises in Detroito Providing intensive cooperative and business consultation, based on the developmental stage of each incubated cooperative, to up to three student teams who will be enrolled in the Co-Op Academy per year, as well as providing post-graduation coaching services;o Playing a leading role in working with local and national staff and allies to assess the feasibility andpossible launch of a COLORS Co-Op Academy ‘teaching enterprise’ that would incorporate cooperative leadership principles

Required Skills and Qualifications:-Willingness and motivation to play a founding role in launching a good food cooperative incubator that will be shaping the development of a national program;- Strong background in worker-cooperative business development or the equivalent;- Management experience in a food enterprise or the equivalent;- Excellent verbal and written communication, including proficiency with Microsoft Word, Excel, Email, Internet and social media;- Ability to work effectively with diverse populations, including Academy participants, customers, and allies;- Ability to work flexible hours, including evenings and weekends based on Academy participants’ schedules;- Strong commitment to movement-building and social, racial, economic, and food justice

About Me

"Resolve to serve no more, and you are at once freed. I do not ask that you place hands upon the tyrant to topple him over, but simply that you support him no longer; then you will behold him, like a great Colossus whose pedestal has been pulled... away, fall of his own weight and break in pieces." -Etienne de La Boétie *Feel free to copy any posted material. Attributions to writers are recommended, but the commons prevail here.